Video editing software

[rhysb]

I have been playing with windows movie maker a littler and I was wondering what other video editing software people can recomened, ideally free but would be good to opions on paid apps as well.

Thanks

[Voodoo]

I use Adobe Premiere Elements it costs, but works well,

[HarryWats0n]

If you have a mac and can afford it, nothing beats Final Cut Pro. Sony Vegas & Adobe Premier elements on PC is very good.

[rhysb]

Thanks does anyone know of any good freeware video editing software, not sure if my interest will streach far enough to warrent spending yet

[Biscuit65]

Imovie on the mac is also pretty good. Also works well on the iPad.

[rhysb]

I am on windows unfortunately

[Ieuan Belshaw]

free version of videopad is alright.

[Mark Mulrain]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_editing_software

If it exists, it's probably listed on this page.

[SimonMW]

As long as the editor can make cuts and export to useful formats, it's all that is really needed. Vegas Pro is really good (you can get a cut down version which will suit the vast majority of people called Vegas Movie Studio).

[MrJazz]

Free: iMovie seems to work well for people (You need a Mac, but then who doesn't ;o) )

Paid: There are two main options for new editors
1) Adobe Premier: works on mac and pc, is closest to "industry standard" at the moment (if you don't count AVID, and you probably shouldn't).
Pros: Ties in well with all adobe creative software and is very established
Cons: Coming out the last 10 years of NLE software and is still quite technical and hard to learn quickly.

2) Final Cut Pro X: Works on mac only and is probably going to be the NLE of the future; certainly for individuals. But I expect it will evolve well.
Pros: It only costs £129. This is ridiculously cheap when Adobe Premier is about 10x this amount. If you don't want to use cracked software, FCPX will offset the cost of buying a mac.
Cons: The software is less than a year old and not yet as full-featured as FCP7 was. Also you will be snubbed by long-time industry professionals who have been very much put off by how simple the software is to use. They will not regard you as a pro-editor. But what does that mean anyway?

For more info, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP1WQ7FP0g8

I don't know much about Sony Vegas and the like. There must also be some free open source editors.

[MrJazz]

Free: iMovie seems to work well for people (You need a Mac, but then who doesn't ;o) )

Paid: There are two main options for new editors
1) Adobe Premier: works on mac and pc, is closest to "industry standard" at the moment (if you don't count AVID, and you probably shouldn't).
Pros: Ties in well with all adobe creative software and is very established
Cons: Coming out the last 10 years of NLE software and is still quite technical and hard to learn quickly.

2) Final Cut Pro X: Works on mac only and is probably going to be the NLE of the future; certainly for individuals. But I expect it will evolve well.
Pros: It only costs £129. This is ridiculously cheap when Adobe Premier is about 10x this amount. If you don't want to use cracked software, FCPX will offset the cost of buying a mac.
Cons: The software is less than a year old and not yet as full-featured as FCP7 was. Also you will be snubbed by long-time industry professionals who have been very much put off by how simple the software is to use. They will not regard you as a pro-editor. But what does that mean anyway?

For more info, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP1WQ7FP0g8

I don't know much about Sony Vegas and the like. There must also be some free open source editors.

I should also add that, if you already use iMovie (or start with it), Final Cut Pro X can import your old iMovie products. I am happy to offer tips for anyone learning FCP7,X or Adobe Premier.

[Halox]

Corel Video Studio Pro X4 is excellent. I also use AVS Video Re-maker to reduce its size prior to putting it on you-tube, as this keeps the quality.

[SimonMW]

It only costs £129.

It's £199.99. But it is, as you say, still a lot cheaper than Premiere. Most people will never need the functions of most of the software.

Also you will be snubbed by long-time industry professionals who have been very much put off by how simple the software is to use. They will not regard you as a pro-editor.

Not entirely true. The BBC has just bought a job lot of FCPX for all types of production, and there are a few guys around like Steve Martin (not the comedian!) who have fully converted despite being initially sceptical.

My problem is that it is missing some of the most simple things. FCPX is both inspired, simple to use, yet extremely frustrating at the same time. It'll probably improve drastically in the next version.

[MrJazz]

My problem is that it is missing some of the most simple things.

I have worked out how to do most of the simple things I used to do in FCP7. Just drop me a message, preferably via facebook or twitter, if you find you are stuck. We are all learning to use FCPX and it makes sense if we can talk openly and collaborate.

[Voodoo]

It only costs £129.

It's £199.99. But it is, as you say, still a lot cheaper than Premiere. Most people will never need the functions of most of the software.

you dont need to buy the professional Full prouduct, Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements bundle is under £60 there is both adobe prouducts ok you dont get some of the top end function but unless your intending to be be doing high end stuff then I dont think your going to miss it
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005INJ1JK/r ... B005INJ1JK

[Mark Mulrain]

You can get anything you want for free with some know how and torrent sites, but I didn't tell you that. I obviously would never use such illegal products for my own video editing either.

coughwww.piratebay.orgcough

µTorrent is a useful program.

[MrJazz]

You can get anything you want for free with some know how and torrent sites, but I didn't tell you that. I obviously would never use such illegal products for my own video editing either.

coughwww.piratebay.orgcough

µTorrent is a useful program.

cough.

[Jim_MWX]

Well depending on to what extent you want to rely on effects I'd recommend Premiere Elements.

I use Premiere Pro at work, its very good and is fine for most editing and production. It's also one of the most widely used so there are plenty of tutorials to get you going. Sony Vegas is also incredibly good, I used to use that at home in the pre mac days.

For what its worth, I recently made the jump to FCP X from Final Cut 7. Yes its different, and certainly a new way of working. I've seen the discussions over whether to upgrade and the problems people are having with feeling like its some kind of imovie pro. I'd disagree with some of the internet comments I've seen, I got used to it pretty quickly and it hasn't caused problems so far working professionally. If anything its made my workflow easier, Its difficult going back to Premiere at work when I've been editing films at home with Final Cut.

[roo]

Anybody here have any experience of Lightworks?

http://www.lightworksbeta.com/

I've got it but I'm still struggling to pull some edits out of an old VHS that I now have on DVD.

It seems straight forward enough though.

[Tom_Laws]

You can get anything you want for free with some know how and torrent sites, but I didn't tell you that. I obviously would never use such illegal products for my own video editing either.

coughwww.piratebay.orgcough

µTorrent is a useful program.

cough.

Outrageous.

Some of my fav videos have been made on Windows Movie Maker. Footage and vision are at least as important. Get filming!

[MrJazz]

You can get anything you want for free with some know how and torrent sites, but I didn't tell you that. I obviously would never use such illegal products for my own video editing either.

coughwww.piratebay.orgcough

µTorrent is a useful program.

cough.

Outrageous.

Some of my fav videos have been made on Windows Movie Maker. Footage and vision are at least as important. Get filming!

http://youtu.be/oZ-Lavw_GFg

[Tom_Laws]

For balance... Chaos Theory was made on Windows Movie Maker.

[Chrace]

I use Adobe Premiere Elements it costs, but works well,

I bought Adobe Premier Elements (~£50) thinking it'd do the trick, but in these days of HD it just doesn't. All clips are converted to 30fps on import which renders my otherwise nice 60fps raw material rather poor for slow-mo. Adobe Premier can obviously do it, but at £300+ I don't think I'll go there.

PowerDirector (which I also bought) simply crashes when I try to do anything with full HD (and yes, my machine is pretty well spec'ed).

[Tom_Laws]

Pretty sure I've used elements to create things in 60fps.

[Jim_MWX]

I haven't used elements, but use its bigger brother daily. I'd be surprised that elements would not support 60fps. Could it be something in the project settings?

When setting a project up you can select the fps you wish the overall file to be set at, but I can't see why it would convert footage down to 30fps?

[Chrace]

Hmm, cheers guys. I already tried to look for the settings, but I'll mess around with it some more.

[Chrace]

Guess I'm not the only one, but it seems the poster towards the bottom has a fix. His more elaborate post can be found here.